By Town Crier Staff Report

For Los Altos Hills resident Nancie Crowley, art is more than just a career.

“It’s my life,” she said.

Fascination with the figure and use of color drive her inspiration. Influenced by the Bay Area figurative movement of the 1960s, Crowley gets her sources of work from world travels.

Art also has proved therapeutic for her. She overcame a fear of dogs by doing a series of paintings of them while in Mexico.

Crowley is one of 22 Los Altos and Los Altos Hills artists participating in Open Studios 2002 this weekend. The event, running through May 4, involves more than 350 artists in Santa Clara County.

Crowley will exhibit her oil and gouache paintings, as well as ink drawings including: “Pooped Pup,” a gouache work that captures her deceptively simple style and sense of humor.

The event involves artists who will open their home studios to the public 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.

Crowley also has proved an effective teacher and lecturer. She taught life drawing and experimental watercolor for 10 years at the Pacific Art League in Palo Alto.

She currently lectures on American women artists and has published a book used as an educational aid for secondary schools.

She will be showing her works with two other well-known Los Altos artists, Kathy Sharpe and June Levin.

Open Studios 2002 involves artists working in a variety of media, from oils and acrylics on canvas, pencil and ink, ceramics and mosaics to blown glass, quilts, textiles, black-and-white photography, digitally manipulated photos, sculptures, jewelry, calligraphy and digital art.

Original artworks will be available for purchase at several of the studios.

Open Studios is a self-guided tour. Copies of the tour guide, including a map of studio locations, are available, free of charge, at Gallery 9, 143 Main St., Los Altos; Marjolaine French Pastries, 134 Main St., Los Altos; and Printers Inc., 301 Castro St., Mountain View.

For more information, call 941-5337 or logon to www.svopenstudios.org.